Communism has not worked in most countries especially in developed countries. It is still hanging on in some developing and under developed countries . Typically communist countries have poor living conditions , no innovative ideas and pressure from all sides . You rarely get to see a happy population under the communist regime.. In India too the communist party is slowly losing its relevance ..
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/5-big-reasons-communism-failed-336631/
Communism as a concept is purely idealistic and cannot work for long. You only have to look at Soviet Russia which has disintegrated completely now, China, Cuba, etc. Why look outside, we only have to see what kind of downfall the communists have brought to the state of West Bengal, which once thriving in prosperity is now reduced to such dire straits. Even in Kerala, conditions are not so good, whatever prosperity is there, is brought by Malyalis working in other states and abroad. Communism should be banned completely,
Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:Communism as a concept is purely idealistic and cannot work for long. You only have to look at Soviet Russia which has disintegrated completely now, China, Cuba, etc. Why look outside, we only have to see what kind of downfall the communists have brought to the state of West Bengal, which once thriving in prosperity is now reduced to such dire straits. Even in Kerala, conditions are not so good, whatever prosperity is there, is brought by Malyalis working in other states and abroad. Communism should be banned completely,
I tend to agree with you as far as Indian communist parties are concernd. They were holding demonstrations in favor of Mao tse Tung when India was fighting with China in 1962. They also sided with the British Raj during the Quit India movement. They are in fact traitors.
MG Singh wrote:Communism was an economic theory by Karl Marx, but he forgot about human nature and that led to the down fall of his theory. It is all very well to talk of dictatorship of the Proleteriat, but he did not specify the means. It is an impratical theory.
Motivation is an important element for human being to work, but this theory completely ignore it.
Actually communism is the Marxist ideal that means a society where one works according to capacity and gets according to his needs. it appears that Marx did not conceive of communism in a single country. He believed that communism can be only a world system. He wrote two books. Das capital and The communist manifesto. He appealed to workers of the world to unite as they have nothing to lose except their chains and have a world to win.
May be Communism has not worked. But Marxist thought has inspired many. Today the condition of labor in capitalist countries is not as bad as used to be a few centuries before. Now there are factory law, minimum wages act, maximum work hours, safety rules, welfare and accommodation facility to workers. This improvement in workers condition is also attributable to communist thought to a great extent. Now workers are not completely proletariat. Marx said that they have nothing to lose and have a world to win. But today they have much to lose as their condition is not so bad as used to be. Instead of class war, there is more cooperation between workers and capitalists.
However we can't say that communism has totally failed. Actually it is the people who manage. Also Soviet experience may not be the last experience and only model of communism. There can be other models also in future. It is also not necessary that future model may be known only as 'communism'. what is important is the urge for economic and social justice. Communism is the condition where every one works according to his capacity and gets according to his needs. There could be many ways to attain this. This may be compared to Indian motto- Vasudhev Kutumbukum (world is family). In a family, every one works according to capacity and gets according to need. Father works outside, mother in kitchen/ home and children go to school. But all get what they need. The same idea is applied to whole world- vasudhev Kutumbkum, which ultimately means 'communism'.
Communism is the sum total of two German political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which also was a reflection of the society in the 1800's. They felt that property and resources have to be collectively owned by a classless society ! Each according to his ability and needs but this is not practical because you needed someone to be above them to see that equal distribution was made which in itself went against the definition where some became more equal.. Change is the only thing permanent in life and like everything else communism too changed according t times and now is withering away . In the Indian context, since we are still a developing economy, there is some relevance for communists in certain states, but even that is dwindling !
usha manohar wrote:Communism is the sum total of two German political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which also was a reflection of the society in the 1800's. They felt that property and resources have to be collectively owned by a classless society ! Each according to his ability and needs but this is not practical because you needed someone to be above them to see that equal distribution was made which in itself went against the definition where some became more equal.. Change is the only thing permanent in life and like everything else communism too changed according t times and now is withering away . In the Indian context, since we are still a developing economy, there is some relevance for communists in certain states, but even that is dwindling !
Usha, it might be relevant for some states but then it ultimately falls upon human shoulders to make it work or fail. And sadly, every time, only greed has prevailed and even in those states, the poor have grown only poorer and left with nothing and the ones exercising control have prevailed each time. So ultimately, one cannot help but feel that capitalism is better, in it at least the people who work hard and honest are rewarded.
We should not forget that initial progress of Russia, China and Cuba was because of Marxism. Nobody can deny that Russia was transformed from a backward country to a superpower. So the same with China. Where Marxism failed was that it negated human values and that led to a wrong application. Dictatorship of the proletariat was substituted by the dictatorship of the party and one man rule. But Communisms may still make a comeback. Our own rebels in the heart of India are espousing the Maoist doctrine and they control 30% of the area there
So in effect Communism has not worked in India because it was relegated to certain states only and with the interference of Center it may not have worked like in other countries where the leaders had a free hand..However, in India the communist leaders and followers seem a confused lot not able to know how far they can go given the kind of traditional and complex society we have.
MG Singh wrote:We should not forget that initial progress of Russia, China and Cuba was because of Marxism. Nobody can deny that Russia was transformed from a backward country to a superpower. So the same with China. Where Marxism failed was that it negated human values and that led to a wrong application. Dictatorship of the proletariat was substituted by the dictatorship of the party and one man rule. But Communisms may still make a comeback. Our own rebels in the heart of India are espousing the Maoist doctrine and they control 30% of the area there
Yes they are comeback as a terrorist. What is image of these rebels. They are making fool to innocent and naive tribal of India.
In India all that communism has done is to stir up trouble, make sure people rebel at the drop of a hat even when there is no valid reason and generally show revolutionary tendencies...So, now we have a situation where thugs call them selves maoists or college students like Kanhaiya tend to think too much of themselves all because the Communist party supports the rebellion and make them think they are doing the right thing for themselves and the country ! Communists are as bad or worse than other political parties..
usha manohar wrote:In India all that communism has done is to stir up trouble, make sure people rebel at the drop of a hat even when there is no valid reason and generally show revolutionary tendencies...So, now we have a situation where thugs call them selves maoists or college students like Kanhaiya tend to think too much of themselves all because the Communist party supports the rebellion and make them think they are doing the right thing for themselves and the country ! Communists are as bad or worse than other political parties..
They are worse as they never adapted to Indian conditions. Mao Tse Tung adapted Marxism to Chinese conditions and Maoism emerged. Credit to him. Indian communists continued hero worshiping Mao and Lenin. Frankly I wonder how they are voted into power in Bengal and Kerala.
Most of the Communist Countries pour Billions in to the Arms race. Poor living conditions and lack of innovation contributed to the failure of Communism in Russia. It's evident Communism in Soviet Union primarily due to economic reasons. One of the main reasons for the economic stagnation was the failure to manufacture innovative products that compete on the Market. In other words Soviet union has failed to adapt to the changing times.
It is difficult to predict the future of communism in the global context but the relevance of its core beliefs which form the bedrock of this ideology continues to remain valid today.I would say its practioners in India have failed more than this ideology itself. Going by my West Bengal-centric experience this ideology especially the way it was practised over more than 34 years at a stretch in power one call it a surest path to perdition.Lumpenization of a state was complete and disconcertingly the process has become more systematic and vigorous under Mamata. Kerala and Rajasthan are two states whose electorate interestingly throw out the incumbent governments to bring in the ones they threw out the last time!!
I feel that one of the msjor readons why Communism is able to thrive in India is because of our political system which divided rather than unite and corrupt ion. According to opinion polls in all likelihood Communist party may yet again come to power in Kerala this time round and only the ruling party can be blamed for all the scams and corruption during its regime.
Communism in India was in the hands of Brahmins for too long and it thus became an arm chair movement. The opportunities they got in Bengal and Kerala or Tripura have not been converted into communist orientations as the Indian people are very possessive of their property and are willing to work in competitive atmosphere to improvevtheir lives. The party is seen as one more political party in democracy. It cannot take roots in India.
vijay wrote:Communism in India was in the hands of Brahmins for too long and it thus became an arm chair movement. The opportunities they got in Bengal and Kerala or Tripura have not been converted into communist orientations as the Indian people are very possessive of their property and are willing to work in competitive atmosphere to improvevtheir lives. The party is seen as one more political party in democracy. It cannot take roots in India.
In India, Communists came to power only in states and not at center. They have to work within constitutional framework and can neither bring and drastic change nor can be expected to do so. But it is creditable that they are comparatively more honest and idealistic than others. The Tripura C.M. is an example. He is considered world's poorest head of any government. They are also not after ministerial posts like others. They supported Man Mohan singh government and earlier United Front governments from outside not accepting any ministerial berth though many parties smaller than them got ministerial berths.
vijay wrote:Communism is a universal philosophy which however because of greedy nature of humans and concentrated onslaught by capitalists led by USA has fails to deliver. But it's appeal for the downtrodden and tribals etc will always be there.
As a matter of fact, Marxism is not an ideology but a science. Marx studied the social and economic phenomenon and history from materialist angle. From his studies, we get (1) dialectical materialism (2) materialist interpretation of history (3) concept of class war. Marx did not prescribe any particular ready made model of society. He did not think that there would be revolution in a particular country. He thought of world as a whole. So he gave the idea of proletarian internationalism. Apparently, the models in China, Soviet Union and some other countries did not strictly follow Marxist international principles. These were more or less national. There are some organizations that believe that Leninism is not communism. They believe that one day communism- real and not Leninist- will prevail in entire world.
Incidentally, idea of communism also prevailed much before Marx. Plato first gave the idea of communism in his book "Republic'. The communism as conceived by Plato would not allow any private property and any personal family to the ruling class including ministers and bureaucrats. They would get their necessaries from state. They would have common wives and common children.
@kiran8